Special Chieftain Editorial: Keep hands off PEDCO money

This morning we are taking the rare action of placing an editorial on the front page of the Sunday Chieftain.

The Pueblo City Council has acted irresponsibly and illegally by discussing in secret session the notion of changing how the half-cent sales tax for economic development can be spent.

Since the voters first approved the tax in 1984, the revenue has been dedicated to bringing in primary jobs, utilizing recruiting efforts by the Pueblo Economic Development Corp.

Now City Council has been meeting secretly to try to convince the voting public to take a big bite — perhaps half — out of the job creation fund, currently about $40 million. Council members have shown a lack of understanding for the history and reason behind the formation of PEDCO more than 30 years ago. They lack the vision of what it will take to compete with other markets for jobs in the future.

Councilman Chris Kaufman and Council President Sandy Daff and other council members leading the raid on job creation funds have shirked their responsibility to the people they represent. In trying to divert a portion of these designated funds for projects such as street paving, they behave like the pork-barrel spenders in Washington, D.C. Just like self-serving congressional members, their short-term thinking could directly affect our ability to attract future jobs to Pueblo.

Here’s a history lesson: Prior to PEDCO, an organization called the Pueblo Development Commission was headquartered in City Hall. In 11 years, PDC was credited with spending money on several studies, printing booklets and handing out awards to local business leaders, but it produced not one single job.

It was clear that a new approach was needed.

With strong support and guidance from then-Gov. Richard Lamm and his economic development representative, Bill Hacker, the plan for PEDCO was launched. Other names you should recognize and recall as involved in the effort included prominent Pueblo business and community leaders Bob Jackson, Bob Johnston and Mahlon White.

The first PEDCO board included a who’s who of Pueblo business and community titans, including Dave Cardinal, Walt Bassett, Paul Clarkin, Jim Carter, Eldon Engle, Tom Farley, Paul Jones, Don Luster, Harold Mabie, Sam Falsetto and Lyle Wilcox. There also were two members of local government on the board.

Those individuals and others led the effort, but it was Pueblo voters who courageously decided then and several times since to tax themselves to establish a special fund which only could be used to attract primary jobs to Pueblo.

PEDCO played a huge role in saving Pueblo from an unemployment rate that neared 20 percent in the 1980s. From the beginning, PEDCO has been successful in attracting jobs to our community, and spreading the news nationwide and even worldwide that Pueblo is open for business.

And every citizen, by virtue of paying the half-cent sales tax, has played a key role in PEDCO’s success.

We all have worked too hard in building this promise of a bright future to allow this behind-the-scenes City Council’s proposed raid to continue.

It was a slap in Pueblo’s face for our elected representatives to meet behind closed doors — and without public notice in advance — on this very public matter and we feel confident you, the voters, will hold them responsible if the council has the audacity to ask you for permission to raid the primary job creation fund.

City Council members need to keep their mitts off the half-cent fund because it affects our future. Leave the PEDCO money alone!

The editorials appearing on the editorial page are the opinions of The Pueblo Chieftain as decided by the newspaper's editorial board. Members of the board are Robert H. Rawlings, publisher and editor; Jane Rawlings, assistant publisher; Steve Henson, managing editor; and Tom McAvoy, editorial research director.